THE HITFILM WISHLIST: What Features Do You Want?

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Export needs a 'Frame Size from Source' button and so much more because...bugs?

I was working with some 2.7k footage, which can apparently vary in size a bit. Hitfilm thinks it should be 2716 x 1524 pixels for a GoPro, but in fact my GoPro produces 2704 x 1524 video, (with MediaInfo also saying it has an Original Height of 1536, which is...???).

Hitfilm always wants to change the project properties to match the video when it's dropped onto the timeline even after I've chosen the 'correct' Project Settings; where it then uses the 1536 'Original height' and then the Profile changes to 'Custom'.

Probably should get that cleared up; is it stretching it slightly? Was it vertically shrunk before? What's the real value?

Going to Export: there is no 2.7k profile by default...

So I edit a 1080p one, up the Level, the width to 2704 and the (linked) height changes to 1521. This is "illegal", so the actual export is 1520. Yes, I could decouple Width and Height and fiddle some more, but at this stage: let's see what happens next...

Now, take that 2704x1520 and load it back into the Editor and when it is placed on the timeline it is, as you'd expect, 16 pixels shorter, so there are 8 pixel gaps at the top and bottom. But, it's also displayed as wider than the project frame and so it has about 12.5 pixels either side extending out of the sides of the frame, despite being the same 2704 pixels wide as the Project. What is Hitfilm trying to do here?

Hitfilm seems to ignore the real size , so is it trying to do something based on the Aspect ratio? Not sure what it did with the height. Did it discard those 16 pixels on Export, or squash it vertically?

I created a comp of this clip to try and find out the size difference of the Black sides and using transform to find the edge: 12 pixels was too little and 13 pixels was too much, so it's bizarrely, about 12.5 pixels either side. It's possible it's neither and because the frame is already stretched it can't actually move in whole pixels, because the edge is quite soft.

RMB>Transform>Fit to Frame Width and those sides move in to reveal: they're actually black pixels. How did they get there? So now the image has about a 12.5/8 pixels border all around it. Left and Right are actually really black, top and bottom are transparent, but show as black when exported again.

Fit to Frame Height stretches the image vertically slightly and pushes those black pixels outside again so there is no black border, but I know I'm losing 12.5(ish) pixels each side that it turned black, so it's just stretched up 2704-25=2679 pixels to fill the 2704 frame width and 1520 to fill the 1536 height.

A small difference, but should any of this really be necessary?

When I set the Project Settings to match the media, why isn't there the Export option to use those Source settings and stay consistent throughout? Although the two vertical 'sizes' for the original media confuses things to start with, Hitfilm consistently makes things worse from then on.

Just to see what happens, I re-exported the Fit to Width version, which when reloaded, had even more black added to the sides - this time visible inside the frame immediately when added to the timeline - and with gaps top and bottom as before. Fit to Width again brings those borders in and the cycle repeats. If I kept on doing this I'd eventually end up with a tiny shrunken image in the middle of the screen with enormous borders all around the edge.

For all layers in embedded comps to act exactly the same way as they do if those same layers were all in the original comp; because they don't.

E.g. For Blend modes on Layers in composites to retain their abilities to 'see' layers below them when the composite is embedded in another composite, rather than pretending that it's not there and having to add the blend mode(s) again to the embedded composite, which only works with a single layer anyway.

Start with a composite that combines (several) layers with a (combination of) blend mode(s) that produce a result on the lowest layer.

Take those top layers and make them in to an embedded composite shot and they can no longer 'see' the lower layer of the comp they came from, so no longer do the same job. Where multiple layers are required to produce the desired result, it's impossible to just add one blend mode to the 'embedded' comp to get that same result because they're all blind and act like there are no blend modes at all. You just have to keep all the layers in the original comp, or comps where you need to have the effect.

+1 on a "Layer Blend" effect. Especially for Ignite. @KirstieT Avid users require something like Boris RED or Sapphire to get simple layer blending in Media Composer. Implementing a Layer Blend in Ignite Pro as detailed above (and discussed in referenced thread) would be an attractive reason to look at Ignite.

3D composite scene - something that works like a composite shot with 3d elements but when inserted inside another composite shots works as a 3d model with all elements placed with theri independet cordinates. this will help who have to create complex scenes and want for example keep separated the environment from the subject and at the same time to reduce the amount of layers in the main composite.

@whakan this is already possible. Bring in an embedded 3D composite and set it to 3D Unrolled.

Also note when working with 3D model multiple models may be added to a single layer (and each submodel in a layer may be parented to a separate point). For environmental setups it actually makes sense to combine terrain and building elements (as an example) into one layer.

I'd like to see this feature request structure moved to a different resource entirely. There are online services that make it much easier to collect and manage feature requests. Instead of adding more redundancy and clutter to a 40+ page thread, we could easily see all existing requests, search them, and literally click a button to indicate our support for those we like. A really smart system would even be able to spot keywords in a new request and suggest that an existing request might already cover it.

Could be but my money is on Mainconcept charging the extra $. Mostly on technical merits. You have to pay MPEG-LA due to patents. You cannot really patent a level which is just some arbitrary number of macroblocks per second and other arbitrary limits within the spec.

Mainconcept however will want to charge for capability offered by their product. More capability => more charge. The JEEP concept. Just Empty Every Pocket. It's why MC has the separate 'broadcast' AVC en/decoder. Charge more for > 8-bit and > 4:2:0 capability.

Import Svg files, Svg is a Web standard for vector files, that could be easily created and reader, so, we can create custom and precise masks in other software (illustrator, gravit, draw etc.) and then utilize them into hitfilm with set matte, (the difference with png is that it could be scaled up without loosing quality, and reducing the cpu load at the same time)

Create sublayer into the mask for each point, so we can parent it to a Layer or to insert manually x and y, this option have to be active from the mask layer so it will disable the general path animation

Possibility to keyframe the font of the text effect, obviously with constant interpolation

Forgive me if I made some mistakes but I'm writing this on my smartphone with the keyboard set to Italian

@Triem23@NormanPCN We do really want to add at least 5.2 level as it's requested a lot however it's not possible at the moment. We are investigating possible solutions or alternatives. I can't go into specifics but Norman is on the right path, as usual

2. On right mouse click option such as linking to place(s) where selected media is put.

Viewer: Keyboard shortcut to "Scale to Fit" view! PLEASE!!!!

Timeline: Simple (only visual) grouping layers one over/under another to minimize layers seen on the timeline. Example: I have 10 mocha tracking points i i don't need to see all 10 layers all the time - grouping into one would clear view.

Masking: buton that let us choose wether mask is applied before or AFTER effect set on the layer.

Audio: On/off buton to fast and simple turning off audio from any media on the timeline.